Tipoff for March Madness begins Thursday morning, and a lot of teams are hoping for their “one shining moment.” But so are a lot of people playing brackets with officemates, friends and our own WCCO audience. Ali Lucia put our WCCO Morning Team to the test to see who they picked to win it all.

The NCAA Tournament got underway last night with the first two “First Four” match-ups. Hampton earned the right to play Kentucky on Thursday night and the bench got a little superstitious down the stretch.

Selection Sunday is tomorrow. That means the bracket analyzing and breakdown will begin in earnest late tomorrow night into Monday. The best part of the tournament, is the Cinderella team, let’s look at the 5 best in NCAA History.

On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will take the field at the Metrodome for the last time. In preparation for the last game at Mall of America Field, season-ticket holders got a special chance to go behind the scenes and say goodbye to the stadium Saturday night. “I’ve been a Vikings fan since I was a kid so it was fun,” said Jay Siebel. “It’s going to be bittersweet tomorrow.”

Keith Appling bounced back in time to give No. 10 Michigan State a shot to share the Big Ten title. Appling scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half to help the Spartans beat No. 22 Wisconsin 58-43 on Thursday night and stay in the race for a piece of the conference championship.

Mississippi State’s Jalen Steele will miss the rest of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his right knee. The 6-foot-3 junior injured the knee while driving to the basket late in the second half of the Bulldogs’ 79-72 loss to South Carolina on Wednesday.

Austin Hollins hit five 3-pointers during an impressive three-minute stretch in the second half, finishing with 19 points and sparking ninth-ranked Minnesota to a 69-51 victory over Northwestern on Sunday night.